Gas-Giant Gliese 876 d - "Entropa"
July 7th 2553
Aboard ONI Prowler: 07SJ-329H0: "Bristol"
Pandora's Box
Captain "Tandem" Merick lightly tapped his fingers on the arm of his command chair, his eyes focused on NAV officer Jenny Wilson as she gave him a silent "thumbs up."
"We're all clear sir, ready to drop back into normal space." She had blue eyes, and long brown hair tied into a bun that was hidden because of her navy hat.
"Alright, Davidson, take us in quietly." Captain Merick ordered and tensed even before the actual seamless drop occurred. Stars burst into view from the blackness outside the view-port and a large copper(II)nitrate crystal colored gas-giant filled half the view; like liquid lapis lazuli. There were twenty moons and natural satellites that orbited the giant, and from their entrance vector they could see three dead rocky moons, and a small cluster of debris that was swept into a disk-like ring in-between the moons.
Merick toggled the com. to his engineer, a bead of sweat on his right eyebrow. "How long till slipspace generators are charged?"
"It will be ready in fifteen minutes." Came the stoic reply.
He turned off the com. and addressed the crew, "Okay, so, the listening-and-research post on the fourth moon has been silent since 38 hours ago. Bring us in so we can observe the station."
His crew busied themselves in as much as they could do, especially considering they each were limited to one 'job', though in such a small vessel they often found themselves doing the work of multiple crew members. The Prowler slipped over to the dusty ring and weaved a path through it so that they were in the same orbital distance as the moon. "Increase orbital velocity and bring us to the moon."
"Yes sir." Fingers typed in commands furiously and tension filled the room.
"Captain, I have found an E-band signal on repeat coming from one of the spy satellites embedded in its RAM-drive." The computerized voice of the ship's AI hailed the captain, the visual form showing an old-looking man in a brown tweed English suit with a dark wooden cane in one hand and a pipe in the other; he twirled his cane while idly puffing away.
"Play it."
"I'm sorry sir, but will not be possible, it appears to be a text sent on a burst transmission every five minutes..."
"Put it on the forward display." Merick silenced the AI by interrupting.
"You aren't interested?"
"Not particularly, now put it on the forward screen Dickens." Merick rolled his eyes, AI's could be inconceivably annoying and still be vital to the running of a ship; especially when they are so nonchalant and casual about...everything.
"Right away sir."
A garbled text appeared on the screen, it was a mix of English, numbers, logic problems, Greek letters, and mathematical formulas filled with derivations, integrations and more: all-in-all it was indecipherable. The crew tried turning their heads, looking at it upside down, and trying out the most common cipher codes: and once again it was unreadable.
"Dickens, I want you to focus on figuring out what this says."
"But sir, there are no clues as to how I should approach the problem, I will have to try each encryption key in existence and when they probably don't work I will have to stare at it for hours until the next hallucination from my diet brings me the revelation I need to solve it."
Merick raised his eyebrows, Dickens had never complained about anything before; this must be some problem indeed. "Fine, save the file and maybe we can find some clues as to what it means."
"Sounds good Captain, I will coordinate our approach to the lunar installation." The AI "bugged out" his holographic form dissipated in a puff of pipe smoke.
"Jared," Merick hailed the weapons officer. "Warm up the archer pods just in case."
"Right away sir." Jared Hansen had a scruffy face left unshaven due to their hard schedule, and his normally energetic brown eyes were dulled with a circle of black and bags under his eyes.
"ETA one minute." Jenny announced.
"Captain, it appears that the composite functions form some kind of prefix; like some kind of program, or system." Dickens noted aloud.
"You know I can't understand all the mathematical jargon that you spout, so please keep it to a minimum." Merick groaned. "Jared check the radar, are we in clear ether?"
"Yes sir, no activity in the form of motion, or radio either." Jared answered a split second later.
One minute had passed, and the black hull of the Prowler grazed the atmosphere of the moon and descended into a close orbit. "Jenny, keep us in a geosynchronous orbit over the installation, and Dickens, scan the area."
"Yes sir." For some reason, whenever the AI was asked to do something at the same time as someone else, he always chose to give the exact same response at the exact same time as the other person; so the AI and officer Jenny both replied at the same time.
"We are set sir." Jenny stated, almost a whisper even though it was easily heard in the dark interior.
"Captain, there is major geological activity on the moon's surface, it appears that a fault-line has been triggered near the base." Dickens reviewed the file on the installation. "It's a security measure sir, to help erase the evidence of their presence, and to make it look like a natural section of the moon."
"So much for tactical nukes." Merick sighed. "We have to salvage a raging volcano."
"Actually sir, it has not yet destroyed the entirety of the structure; as you are aware this gas-giant is inside the habitable zone of this star, and several moons including this one have plentiful reserves of water..." The AI was cut off.
"Skip the intro, or it won't last!"
"Actually sir, it appears that most of the installation will survive, the truth is that this is mostly just being buried by the lava, because most of the installation was built into a deep underground sea."
"Our entrance will still be blocked." Merick hissed.
"No it won't, several unforeseeable events have caused the magma to flow around the main entrance, so it is only a matter of time before... oh my..."
"What's happening? Show me!" Merick powered up his view-screen.
"Another deep fault has triggered secondary tremor; the station is sinking below the ocean and lava is cooling over the gap."
"Send a message to the ONI brass, tell them the station is submerged and unreachable." The Captain sighed and stood to crack his back with satisfying 'pops'.
"I'll program a slipspace probe to deliver the message; and at this point obeying Cole protocol is no longer necessary." Dickens complied.
"Oh, and be sure to send a copy of the emergency broadcast, maybe that's all they wanted in the first place."
"What will you do until you get an answer?"
"Davidson, pilot this ship into the debris field and match us to its intrinsic velocity. I want us to be dead in the water."
"Yes sir." The pristine black ship glided back away from the moon and into the closest ring of dust and rock, she nosed her way into a section of the ring and slowly adjusted to the "flow of traffic." The dust and rocks billowed around the spacecraft and were drawn to its microgravity and clung loosely around its surface. The ship blended perfectly with the dull brown and gray, and was unrecognizable.
"Captain, we have an A-1, that is, a 20% detection rating." Dickens announced. "For all intents and purposes we are in clear ether."
"Very good, bridge crew is dismissed to quarters for an eight hour period." The Captain relayed this order over the com. and added. "I want the ship powered to minimum, and the slipspace generators ready for anything."
Dickens watched as the bridge was emptied and sighed, or at least he made the closest thing to a sigh that an AI could. It was kind of odd really, that a ship like this would have such a high level ship-board AI. He often pondered what his 'life' would have been like if he were given a carrier; alas, there were so few ships left that even though many AI had died, there weren't even combat vessels for them.
He pondered various areas of the file he had received and started to probe it with disinterest. Lines of code flashed away from his hologram; it was pretty entertaining even for him that when he was processing information its physical representation was him smoking, and now his hologram seemed to be surrounded by vaporous clouds. He turned it over and over, and finally managed to form the 'problem' into a cube. He stood there on the hologram and grinned; this was the most intricate Chinese puzzle-box ever made, mostly because it was made entirely out of words, phrases, math problems and more eccentricities.
Dickens set his cane on an imaginary rack and bit down on the end of his pipe so as to be able to use both "hands," and pushed one small bit of code. Time flashed by, even for an AI who worked on the level of microseconds, and when the Captain and the crew returned to "leisurely" duties had was thirty percent done opening the package.
Merick sat down in his command chair and watched the hologram of the very active AI, he watched as his holographic hands moved with incredible speed pushing pieces to different lengths, sliding panels, and turning a small box over and over in his hands.
"Did you find something Dickens?" He asked.
"Yes and no." He replied as he continued his work. "The message was a puzzle meant to encode whatever the message really was so it could reach ONI headquarters. It is so incredibly complex that it has taken me eight standard hours to get 31.47% unlocked. But at least I've managed to figure what the problem is, so it is only a matter of time before the message is delivered."
"You do know that we might not be cleared to access that information don't you?" Merick implied.
"At this rate the curiosity factor has won out; maybe when I've opened the box I will be satisfied to give it unopened to ONI." He smiled and continued working, a small dial on the corner of the screen showing his progress at 32%.
Slipspace is known for its anomalous nature, with its eddies and currents, and bubbles. And it may come as no surprise that with the updated engines on the probe, and after navigating the currents with minute precision, the probe came safely into orbit around Earth. On the Continent known as Australia, ONI is known for having their place; the "Hive." And inside the Hive in one of its many sub-levels there was an office with a withered old man in a black uniform discussing with a hushed voice something of importance.
The one recieving the discussion was young, new to adulthood, and he had his arms folded in front with a pervasive calm despite his age. He seemed to be a natural spook, easily of the caliber of section III, and he proffered a manila envelope with the seal of ONI section III. "This just came back from the "GLADIATOR" mission." He let go of the envelope and slicked his short blond hair back into a perfect combed and gelled look.
"Hmm..." The old man, the head of section III examined the file. "And you haven't opened "Pandora's Box" yet?"
"No sir, we are waiting for your order."
"Alright, I'll do it, you are dismissed." The head of section III sent him away and dimmed the fluorescent lights of his office before triggering an electronic-countermeasures switch under his desk. His room became airtight and an EMP zapped the 'inexpensive' equipment in the room; he could replace all that for this secrecy. When he was sure he was in the clear, he pressed a hidden button on the frame of a painting on his left wall and watched with satisfaction as the painting became a holoscreen. He then slipped his hand into the envelope he had received and found a small chip capable of holding an AI, and pressed it into a slot on the frame of the painting.
The image of the puzzle-box appeared, and on the front face of the cube there appeared to be one place where he could push a piece aside. But oddly enough he merely spoke one word: "Pandora."
A voice issued from a speaker that was also built into the picture frame. "Pass-code confirmed, retinal and voice scans confirmed; welcome."
The box magically opened and an AI appeared on the screen. "Sadly this is just a message, but if you have received this then I am recovered. The project was successful, though when we tried to shut down our laboratories there was an accident and the main reactor went critical. this triggered the failsafe and set off several buried tactical nukes that were set in an old fault line."
He sighed.
"The mission is a success, but all the personnel, I was able to escape by transferring myself into the E-band satellite and locking myself into safety mode." She had wavy hair and seemed to wear an old Greek dress, though because of all the symbols it could have just been a figment of imagination. "You will have to retrieve my core from the satellite and then I will be able to give the results." The AI disappeared and the holoscreen went blank.
July 8th 2553
Aboard "Bristol" orbiting Entropa
Merick was no longer on the bridge, instead he was in his quarters resting, his arms were tucked behind his head and his eyes bored through the dull ceiling. "This mission just keeps on getting weirder and weirder." His thoughts echoed in his skull. "A puzzle-box, why, and what could be in it?"
"Captain, I am sorry to disturb you." Dicken's voice interrupted.
"It's not a problem Charles." Merick replied to the AI using his 'nickname.'
"Our probe has been sent back with new orders; we are to capture the satellite and personally deliver the hard drive back to the Hive." The apologetic tone had disappeared and now only a casual business attitude took its place.
"Have you finished the puzzle?"
"You will be pleased to know that I am almost complete; I will require another two hours." Casual also vanished and excitement dripped from the words.
"Nothing like a puzzle for an AI" Merick thought dryly. "I'm coming up to the bridge, summon the crew."
He rolled off his bunk and stalked up to the bridge, by the time he arrived the crew were all at their stations watching him expectantly.
"Bring us back to the moon, we have to nab the satellite." He sat in his chair and observed how smoothly they worked, stress relieved after their break. The ship's thrusters fired and brought it out of the debris field, streaking behind it a trail of particles drifted eerily. Pretty soon the moon loomed up, and they pulled alongside the satellite, it seemed a little beat up but it was all natural because of the dust and pebbles.
Merick stolidly walked down the hall and into the airlock, he then prepped for his space-walk. Once his suit was locked tight he attached a tether to himself and tied it to the bulkhead.
"Okay, close the inner lock and depressurize." He ordered into his com.
The outer door snapped open as soon as all atmosphere had been sucked out of the room and back into the ship; because of this, Merick did not go flying out into space but merely stepped out. He pushed off the bulkhead and glided away in the zero-G environment in a straight vector toward the satellite. "Three, two, one..." He mentally counted down until he lightly hit the satellite and clung to it, he didn't have very many tools to take out the hard drive; so he roped his tether around it and began to pull himself and the construct back into the ship's open outer airlock.
He brought it inside and sighed as the door closed around him and air rushed into the room.
"You're clear sir." Dickens' voice hailed him.
He put away his suit and half-dragged the satellite into the engineering room where he stretched his back and wiped his brow from exertion.
"If you can take out the hard drive, plug it into the main computer and I can access it." Dickens suggested.
"Why?" The engineer demanded.
"Mostly because I opened the puzzle." He remarked smugly.
"Well?" Merick groaned.
"I'll keep it a surprise." Dickens silenced and watched as they pulled out the hard drive and hooked it up to the computer.
"Greetings," Dickens began, "You must be Pandora; I loved your puzzle." Up on the bridge the holotank had two figure standing there; one excited old man, and one annoyed girl.
"Glad you liked it, now can we get back to ONI? This is important." She crossed her arms.
"You didn't even ask my name!" Dickens balked, horrified. "I guess you weren't so great after all."
A/N: Sorry I haven't been active for a while, but I think I've finally got something for you guys. This is going to be a mix of action, mystery, and I hope it will be fun. Thanks.
-Tremble Wolf